Shredding apparatus



Patented Apr. 2, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHREDDIN G APPARATUS Robert W. Stevenson, Columbus, Ohio, assignor to The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, a corporation of- Ohio Application March 19, 1932, Serial lio. 599,981

' 6 Claims. (01. 83-75) My invention relates to apparatus for shredding wood or other material, and one of its objects is the provision of improved and efficient mechanism for dividing the material to be shredded, and feeding such divided material into a shredder.

Another object of the invention, is the provision of improved and efllcient means for collecting the cuttings, or sawdust, of the material which is divided, and feeding the same into the shredder.

upon by a shredder, into which such small pieces are fed from the saws. Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novel features and combinations being set forth in the appended claims. I

. In the accompanying drawing, Fig.

l is an elevation, partly in section, of shredding apparatus embodying my improvements.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional elevation taken of the arrows.

In Fig. l, I have shown a rotary on the line 22 of Fig. 1, looking in the'direction shredder a of the swinging hammer type, comprising a mul tiplicity of centrlfugally operated hammer arms 4, mounted on the rotary drum 5, which is keyed to the shaft 6 so as to rotate in-the the arrow I. mounted on the pivoted frame 9, so

direction of An adjustable breaker, plate 8 is as to move bodily therewith, when adjusted by means of the adjusting screw Ill. Spaced shredding cutters II are located in the bottom of the shredder 3. 1

The upper side of the shredder 3 is provided with a hopper l2 for receiving the small pieces of wood which are obtainedby operating the gang of saws l3 on the slabs of woodor other material |4.

ed feeding mechanism comprising a spaced apart sprockets l1 and I8,

keyed to the shafts l9 and 20. Endless sprocket. chains 2| mesh with the sprockets l1 and I8, and

each chain is provided with feeding position to extend into and above the slots intho feed table It. As shown in Fig. .1, the feeding teeth project above theupper surface of the feed table It a suflicient distance to engage the rearedge of the slab of wood |4.

plurality of v respectively teeth 22 in A large spur gear 23 is secured to the shaft |9 in position to mesh with the small spur gear 24 on the shaft 25 which is mounted on top of' theframe 3' of the shredder 3. To the left-hand end of the shaft 25 as viewed in Fig. 2 is connected a pulley 26 having thereon an endless belt 28 which extends upwardly over the pulley 29 on the shaft 30. At the upper ends of the standards 3|, 32 are mounted the bearings 34, 35 for the shaft 30. Secured to the shaft 30 are the rotary saws |3 with spacers 36 between the saws and the bearings and between adjacent saws.

'I'he rotary crusher 3 is adapted to be driven by a motor connected to the shaft 6 to drive the swinging hammers 4 in the direction of the arrow 1. A pulley 31 on the shaft 6 is connected by means of the endless belt 38 to the pulley 33 on the shaft 30. The driving of the shaft 6 in an anticlockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 1 will result in the rotation of the circular saws l3 in the di-. rection of the arrow 45. At the same time the shaft 25 will be driven in an anti-clockwise direction, but-because of the gears 24 and 23 the shaft |9 will be driven in a clockwise direction. Consequently the spaced-apart endless feed chains 2| will be driven in the direction of the arrow 21 so thatwhen the teeth 22 engage the slabs 24 the latter will be carried or fed to and along the gang v of saws l3. 7

The direction of rotation of the circular saws l3 as indicated by the arrow 45 is such as to tend to throw the sawdust rearwardly toward the wall 46 of the enclosure 41, so as to cause the sawdust to fall into the hopper I2 from which it is free to pass through the screen I at the bottom of the shredder and into the pan 4|.

The enclosure 41 comprising the upright wall 46, the horizontal plate 48 and the saw'cover '49, serveto prevent the sawdust due to the vsawing operation from spreadinginto the outside atmosphere.

In the front side of the enclosure 41 isanelongated opening 50 of sufllcient height and length to permit the largest slabs of wood |4 to enter the space in advance of the saws. Openings are pro-. vided at 39 in the feed table I6 immediately below the saws, to permit the heavier particles of the sawdust to drop by gravity into the pipe 40 which communicates at its lower end with the pan 4|. The sawdust received from the pipe 40 and from the screen II at the bottom of the shredder 3 may be directed into the delivery pipe 42 in the direction indicated by the arrow 43, by any desired means. A. vertical sliding door 44 at the front end of the pan 4| controls an openspaces adjacent to the saws, thereby assuring complete sawing, preventing the splitting off of long pieces of material and preventing small sawed pieces from becoming jammed between the saws. I

Each finger 52 is pivoted at 53 and is urged downwardly by means of a spring 54 on a bolt 55. The lower end 56 of the bolt acts to limit the downward movement of the finger 52. By means of a nut 51 the position of the finger 52 may be adjusted.

Each finger 52 engages the upper side of a corresponding trough plate 5i which is carried on an arm 58 pivoted at 59.

As shown in Fig. 2 each saw is provided at both sides thereof with a spring-pressed holding device each comprising the presser plate 5|, the finger 52 and the spring 54. The presser plates 5! are appreciably narrower than the spaces between the saws and are therefore free to move upwardly and downwardly in accordance with the thickness of the slab I4 of the material being cut into small pieces. The presser plates hold the small pieces of material in contact with the feed table until they leave the spaces between the saws. The small pieces of sawed material are then fed to the rear end of the table it and dropped into the hopper l2.

The shredder 3 is of well-known construction but shredders of this type are not adapted to operate on slabs of wood cut rom green logs. Such slabs are too large to be fed into shredders of this type and I have therefore combined with the shredder shown the apparatus for cutting the slabs into small pieces and collecting the sawdust produced during such dividing operations. Al-

though I have shown the gang of saws and the feeding mechanism operated by connections extending from the shaft 6, the feeding and sawing operations may be effected by means of a separate motor, if desired.

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in the details and arrangement of parts without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims hereto appended and I wish therefore not to be restricted to the precise construction herein disclosed.

Having thus described and shown an embodiment of my' invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In shredding apparatus, the combination with a shredder, of multiple sawing mechanmm, a hopper for delivering the sawed material to said shredder, a housing for enclosing said sawing mechanism and covering the space above said hopper, a collector below said shredder, a pipe connecting the space below said sawing mechanism with said collector, and means for driving said sawing mechanism in a direction to assist in delivering the sawed materal to said hopper and the sawdust to said pipe.

2. In shredding apparatus, the combination with multiple sawing mechanism, of a shredder associated therewith, a hopper for said shredder, a housing covering said sawing mechanism and the space above said hopper, means for feeding material into said housing beneath said sawing mechanism and to said hopper, a collector beneath said shredder, and a sawdust collector extending from said sawing mechanism to said shredder collector.

3. In shredding apparatus, the combination with sawing mechanism, of a shredder, a hopper for said shredder, a housing covering said sawing mechanism and the space above said hopper, a collector beneath said shredder, a feed table extending into said housing beneath the axis of rotation of said sawing mechanism, means associated with said table for feeding material to said sawing mechanism, and a sawdust flue extending between said sawing mechanism and said collector.

4. In shredding apparatus, the combination with a shredder, of a plurality of spaced saws, table feed mechanism below the said saws, an enclosure for the saws, a hopper between the enclosure and shredder, a pan beneath the shredder communicating therewith, and a conduit extending from the pan and opening adjacent the saws,

the said conduit conducting sawdust from the saws to the pan, and the pan receiving sawdust passing through the hopper and shredder.

5. In shredding apparatus, the combination with a shredder, of multiple sawing mechanism, a hopper for delivering the sawed material to the shredder, a housing for enclosing the sawing mechanism and covering the space above the hopper, a collector below the shredder, a pipe connecting the space below the sawing mechanism with the collector, and means for driving the sawing mechanism in a direction to assist in delivering the sawed material to the hopper and the sawdust to the pipe.

6. In shredding apparatus, the combination with sawing mechanism, of a shredder, a hopper between the sawing mechanism and the collector. 60

ROBERT W. STEVENSON. 

